The Golden Compass

[cathyr19355]

esrblog and I just got back from a trip with pmat and shakati to see "The Golden Compass," the movie version of the first volume of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. There's no need for a cut here, since it's possible to name what's right and wrong with the movie without referring to any plot points at all.

I enjoyed the movie. Visually, the movie was a powerful and surprisingly accurate rendition of the world Pullman describes in the book. The casting was excellent (Nicole Kidman was particularly good in the role of Mrs. Coulter), and the scriptwriters did a wonderful job of compressing the action into movie-length without compromising its flavor.

There's only one problem with Compass. Most of what makes Pullman's novel compelling, or at least interesting, are the motivations of the characters and why they are fighting on the side on which they're fighting. Those motivations are sufficiently complex that they can't be described very well in a movie, and the movie accordingly abbreviates and glosses over a lot of them. The result is a movie that will be powerfully evocative for anyone who's read and enjoyed the book--and cryptic and frustrating for everybody else.

Well, that explains why it's doing so poorly at the box office, at least in the U.S. Sorry, New Line; not all fantasy trilogies are created equal.

[EDIT: In light of pmat's comment I should probably amend "cryptic and frustrating" to "cryptic, boring, and/or frustrating."]

Comments

[fla-sunshine.livejournal.com]

Aha! I had speculated that the movie must not be comprehensable to those who have not read the book based on the reactions of the people I knew who had already seen it. jcbemis and I haven't seen it yet, but based on your review, she should enjoy it and I won't get it (unless I get motivated to read the book first).

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd say that's exactly correct. Though there is lots of eye candy and some great CGI in the movie, if you like that sort of thing.